24 
ANNUAL ADDRESS. 
The bright blue blossoms of the Forget-me-not, the very name 
of which breathes the romantic but legendary story of the German 
knight and his lady love, served as the badge during his exile of 
the banished Henry of Lancaster, who united this flower of remem- 
brance to his collar of SS. with the motto in old French — 
" Soveigne vous de moi " (Remember me) as a hint to his friends 
in England. And the rapturous welcome accorded to him by his 
partisans, when he subsequently ascended the throne as Henry IV. 
showed that though "out of sight," he had not been " out of 
mind." 
In more recent times the modest Violet has been associated with 
a somewhat similar cause in the history of the French people. 
When misfortune overtook the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, and 
he was banished to Elba his favourite flower, the blue violet, was 
adopted as a badge by his faithful adherents, who invested it with 
the secret significance "To return in Spring," to show their 
belief in the ultimate success of their leader. 
In the following March their expectations were realised by the 
Emperor's reappearance in France, but his triumph was short- 
lived and a few months later saw him removed to a still more 
distant place of exile. 
The violet, however, remains the badge of the Bonaparte party 
under the modern Republic, and was largely used, as you may 
remember, at the funeral of the Prince Imperial. 
There is still one flower to be added to these historical memories 
which, though it has not had the good fortune to be amongst the 
emblems of nations or the badges of royal houses, has, apart from 
its beauty, an interest worth recording. To the botanist the 
brilliantly-coloured Gorse or Furze, the glory of our downs and 
hill-sides, will ever hold an honoured place in the pages of history, 
because of its association with Linneus, who did so much for 
botany. Nowhere is the gorse found in such abundance or in such 
beauty as in England, and it is not surprising, therefore, that the 
great naturalist, who had never seen the plant in his native 
country, should be so moved by the sight of a common, near 
London, ablaze with the brilliancy of its fully expanded blossoms, 
that he fell on his knees enraptured, and thanked God for sparing 
his life to see this beautiful part of the Creation. 
A later testimony to the glory of the plant comes from the late 
Dr. A. Russel Wallace, who wrote that he had never seen in the 
Tropics such brilliant masses of colour as England can show in 
her furze-clad commons. 
It would be possible to enumerate other flowers, such as the 
Bluebell of Scotland, and the many floral badges of the Scottish 
clans, that have played a prominent part in the history of the 
nation, but you may think that romantic legend is creeping too 
much into my remarks, whereas I wish them to stand as interest- 
ing facts from history. 
January 22nd, 1914. 
